Dallas, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1960s

Work

Farms beside suburbs

The classifieds still carry farm machinery, apples, firewood, septic tanks, and used cars¹², but the township is also becoming a suburban community near the borough³. Work and trade spill down the road toward Kingston and Wilkes-Barre.

Faith

Catholic hilltop presence

The most visible religious institution is College Misericordia^8,9, a Sisters of Mercy college on the Dallas hill. In the 1960s it is still an all-women’s Catholic college⁹.

Law & power

Small governments, new systems

Local power sits in borough and township boards, but by 1967 they cooperate to form a municipal authority for public sewer service^5,6. By 1969 the borough also accepts county-wide planning¹⁴ as growth becomes too large for purely village habits.

In the air

Women, service, expansion

College Misericordia brings higher education and public questions into a small community: it is large among Catholic women’s colleges¹⁰ and has begun graduate study by the early 1960s. The library drive shows another civic ideal, with local women raising $10,600 to buy a permanent home⁷.

Home & table

Households on septic ground

Before the later treatment plant, household life still depends on wells, septic systems, and local contractors; a 1966 ad offers septic-tank cleaning at $17.50 up to 1,000 gallons¹². New suburban houses are spreading into what the township later remembered as rural farming country becoming suburban³.

Money

Ten-cent paper, used cars

A Dallas Post costs 10 cents for a single copy and $4.00 for a year⁴. A 1966 shopper sees apples at $1.00 per bushel, a 1959 Volkswagen for $500, and a used Oldsmobile for $75¹².

Who lived here

Back Mountain growth

The place is part of the wider Back Mountain communities¹ rather than an isolated borough. The township’s population rises from 4,410 in 1960 to 5,747 in 1970³, a sign of incoming households and suburban pressure.

Roads & news

Thursday paper, local world

News arrives through The Dallas Post, published every Thursday morning on Lehman Avenue⁴. Its pages mix school, church, sports, classifieds, and community disputes for the Back Mountain.

Year by year

1. 1960College Misericordia began offering graduate study in cooperation with the University of Scranton. here¹⁰
2. 1961Dallas High School opened with classroom technology later remembered as including reel-to-reel tape machines. here¹¹
3. 1962Howard Risley, long-time editor of The Dallas Post, died. here¹³
4. 1963President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, a national shock that would have filled local papers and radios here. the country
5. 1965The Voting Rights Act became federal law, part of the civil-rights conflict that people here would have followed through newspapers and television. the country
6. 1967The Back Mountain Municipal Authority was incorporated to bring public sewer service to Dallas Borough, Dallas Township, and Kingston Township. here^5,6
7. 1968Harveys Lake became a borough in the Back Mountain. nearby¹
8. 1969Apollo 11 landed humans on the Moon, an event people here could watch on television in a decade when color TV service was locally advertised. the world¹²

What the sources say

• Dallas Borough and Dallas Township were separate municipalities in Luzerne County, and the map point lies in the Back Mountain region rather than in the city of Wilkes-Barre. from the sources^1,2
• Dallas Township grew from 3,181 people in 1950 to 4,410 in 1960 and 5,747 in 1970. from the sources³
• A 2015 township plan describes Dallas Township’s postwar change from rural farming origins toward a suburban community, with denser urban-like development near Dallas Borough. from the sources³
• The Back Mountain was commonly understood as including Dallas, Franklin, Jackson, Kingston, Lake, and Lehman townships, with Dallas and Harveys Lake as boroughs. from the sources¹
• The Dallas Post was a weekly newspaper published Thursday mornings from its plant on Lehman Avenue, Dallas; in 1960 a yearly subscription cost $4.00 and a single copy cost 10 cents. from the sources⁴
• The Back Mountain Municipal Authority was incorporated in March 1967 by Kingston Township, Dallas Township, and Dallas Borough to provide public sewer service. from the sources^5,6
• The authority’s name was changed in March 1969 to Dallas Area Municipal Authority, but construction of the treatment plant lasted until 1972, after this decade. inferred⁵
• The Back Mountain Memorial Library was organized after the Dallas Women’s Club fund drive raised $10,600 to buy the Ryman home, and its collection reached 30,000 volumes within a year. inferred⁷
• College Misericordia in Dallas was founded by the Religious Sisters of Mercy in 1924 as Luzerne County’s first four-year institution of higher learning. from the sources^8,9
• College Misericordia remained an all-women’s Catholic college in the 1960s and did not become coeducational until 1979. from the sources⁹
• By 1962 College Misericordia had 1,103 students including extension students, making it the sixth largest Catholic women’s college in the United States, according to a Congressional Record tribute. from the sources¹⁰
• Dallas High School opened in 1961, and later reminiscence noted reel-to-reel tape machines as part of its early classroom technology. from the sources¹¹
• A 1966 Dallas Post classifieds page shows everyday local commerce: mobile homes on Memorial Highway, farm machinery, apples at $1.00 per bushel, a 1959 Volkswagen for $500, and septic-tank cleaning at $17.50 up to 1,000 gallons. from the sources¹²
• The same 1966 page advertised color television service, curb service at the Y in Dallas, fried chicken, French fries, beef burgers, and shakes. from the sources¹²
• Dallas Post editor Howard Risley died in 1962; his widow Myra Risley sold the newspaper in 1968 to Henry Null of Clarks Summit. from the sources¹³
• The Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction, begun by local library supporters, was still tied to the Risley barn on Lehman Avenue into the 1960s. from the sources¹³
• Harveys Lake, a nearby Back Mountain resort community, was incorporated as a borough in 1968. from the sources¹
• Dallas Borough in 1969 delegated planning responsibilities under Pennsylvania Act 241 to Luzerne County for county-wide planning. from the sources¹⁴
• The exact 1960 population of Dallas Borough is not readily visible in the opened online sources, although the surrounding township’s decade growth is documented. not known
• No opened source gives a street-by-street description of Dallas houses in the 1960s. not known

Sources

1. Back Mountain. Wikipedia
2. Dallas, Pennsylvania. Wikipedia
3. Dallas Township Comprehensive Plan, Population Profile. Dallas Township, 2015
4. The Dallas Post, March 24, 1960, page 2. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive, 1960
5. History. Dallas Area Municipal Authority
6. Township of Dallas Code, Chapter 5: Authorities, Municipal. eCode360 / Township of Dallas
7. History. Back Mountain Memorial Library
8. History of the Presidency. Misericordia University
9. History of Misericordia University, 1924–2016. Misericordia University, 2016
10. Congressional Record — Senate, 1962. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 1962
11. ‘Beauty’ Greets Students. Times Leader Archive, 2008
12. The Dallas Post, March 10, 1966, page 8. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive, 1966
13. Still going strong at 125. Times Leader Archive, 2015
14. Dallas Borough Code, Appendix D: Governmental and Intergovernmental Affairs. American Legal Publishing / Dallas Borough

Dallas in other decades

Nearby, about the same time